One day Mr. Shoaff said, "Jim, if you want to be wealthy and happy,
learn this lesson well: Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on
your job."

Since that time I've been working on my own personal development. And I
must admit that this has been the most challenging assignment of all. This
business of personal development lasts a lifetime.

You see, what you become is far more important than what you get. The
important question to ask on the job is not, "What am I getting?" Instead,
you should ask, "What am I becoming?" Getting and becoming are like
Siamese twins: What you become directly influences what you get. Think of
it this way: Most of what you have today you have attracted by becoming
the person you are today.

I've also found that income rarely exceeds personal development.
Sometimes income takes a lucky jump, but unless you learn to handle the
responsibilities that come with it, it will usually shrink back to the
amount you can handle.

If someone hands you a million dollars, you'd better hurry up and
become a millionaire. A very rich man once said, "If you took all the
money in the world and divided it equally among everybody, it would soon
be back in the same pockets it was before."

It is hard to keep that which has not been obtained through personal
development. So here's the great axiom of life:

To Have More Than You've Got,
Become More Than You Are.

This is where you should focus most of your attention. Otherwise, you
just might have to contend with the axiom of not changing, which is: